Spotting Dust Storms on Titan

This frame from an animation -- based on images captured by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer on NASA's Cassini mission during several Titan flybys in 2009 and 2010 -- shows clear bright spots appearing close to the equator around the equinox that have been interpreted as evidence of dust storms. The brightenings were visible only for a short period of time -- between 11 hours to five Earth weeks -- and cannot be seen in previous or subsequent images. The Cassini spacecraft ended its mission on Sept. 15, 2017. The animation is available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22483